We wondered out loud whether this was actually a significant percentage, as Jaffa Cakes aren't all that big. Well now we have our answer - thanks to SCIENCE!

Special correspondent, The Scientician has carried out an actual, real-life, scientific experiment. He has found out 'how heavy' a Jaffa Cake is. Once we know 'how heavy' a Jaffa Cake is, we can calculate the percentage of it that is fat, because we already know that a Jaffa Cake contains 1g of fat.

This is the England-branded packet of Jaffa Cakes. There's Paul Collingwood on the left. We bet he likes Jaffa Cakes, otherwise why would he agree to appear on the packet?

Here's one of the Jaffa Cakes being extracted in scientific fashion. Rule one of science: Always wear gloves.

Here's the first Jaffa Cake. It's 11.78 grams. Maybe it would be 12 if it weren't for that tweezer mark. In terms of the experiment, that tweezer mark is 'not significant'.

Here's the second Jaffa Cake. It's 11.79 grams. In scientific terms that's 'very close to the other one'.

Here's the third and final Jaffa Cake. It's a whopper. It's 13.13 grams.

Here's a picture of no Jaffa Cake at all. We're not sure why The Scientician took this picture. Perhaps he's showing us that his 'how heavy' device works correctly. Or perhaps he's showing us that he has consumed 3g of fat via the Jaffa Cakes.

So the mean mass of these three Jaffa Cakes is 12.23 grams. That means that a Jaffa Cake is 8.2% fat. That sounds a lot.

If England fail to win the World Cup and appear sluggish and oversized, you know who to blame.

Shame on the rest of you for not; working in laboratories; always carrying cameras; coincidentally having a packet of Jaffa Cakes; flouting laboratory health and safety; and having nothing better to do.

6 Comments:

Having read this, I just want to add why there is a picture of the "how heavy" unit with no Jaffa Cakes. This is simply to demonstrate that I was weighing the Jaffa Cake alone, not the cake plus weighing boat. Obviously.

Also, I've been asked to point out that Jaffa cakes fall within the COSHH regulations in the UK (http://www.hse.gov.uk/coshh/), and as such, must not be directly handled.

Jaffa cakes are the end of the line that begins with coffee.Coffee smells infinitely better than it tastes.The smell is the only tolerable part of Jaffa cakes. I tried one once; my mouth still goes square with disgust at the memory of the taste and texture.It is therefore a brilliant choice for a non fattening snack.